Off to Harvard

A Delhi team will represent Indonesia at the Model United Nations to be organised by Harvard University next year report Vimal Chander Joshi

educationUpdated: Nov 18, 2010 10:48 IST

Vimal Chander Joshi Hindustan Times

It’s a first of sorts for a Delhi University college. Students from the Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) will participate in the Model United Nations (MUN) at Harvard University.

MUN simulates the United Nations Organisation (UNO), with participants playing delegates’ roles and articulating their viewpoints to hammer out global policies.

The students were thrilled at their selection. This happened after Ankit Aggarwal a fourth-year student decided to recreate the MUN experiences he had had in school. “I had then participated in a MUN organised by Delhi Public School, RK Puram, where I represented Turkey and was even awarded for the ‘best country profile’. In our college, there were other students also who had similar award-winning brushes with MUNs. So we thought of doing something similar in college,” says Aggarwal.

Selection for HNMUN (Harvard National Model United Nations) was just the beginning. The real challenge for Aggarwal now is to prepare for the competition which will draw 3,000 students from 35 different nations.

The NSIT team, headed by Aggarwal, has 16 members who will jointly represent Indonesia - and not India! “We gave our priority of ten countries and Indonesia was our third priority. Ultimately, the final decision lies with the Harvard people. There are a lot of issues we can push in the MUN as this country gets sound representation at international forums,” adds Aggarwal.

To streamline efforts, all the 16 members have been divided into five cohorts. They sit together and each cohort gives presentations on historical events of international importance such as the Vietnam war, the cold war, disintegration of the Soviet Union. Other than that, each cohort is assigned with different topics ranging from politics of Indonesia to its history, economy and culture.

After the team is done with the initial preparation, they will invite lecturers from Jawaharlal Nehru University who can give them a better perspective on diplomatic issues.

So how will this help the participants add to their CVs? “Many engineers these days take up non-technical jobs in consulting firms such as McKinsey or Bain & Company which look for dynamic engineering graduates. Even technical companies, PSUs also look for charasmatic students ,” he explains.

Indian MUNs. University of Delhi recently started its Model United Nations (MUN) in October, 2010. To know more about it, one can visit www.dumun.in. Ryan International School will organise MUN between November 18-20. Visit www.indianmun.org for details. Bangalore MUN will start on November 25. Visit www.bmun.in for details